You are here

BFA Dance Majors Receive Pelotonia Undergraduate Research Fellowships

May 1, 2015

The Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellowship Program provides one-year research fellowships to the best and brightest Ohio State University undergraduate students who want to help cure cancer. Cancer is a complex disease, and curing it will take a multidisciplinary effort. Competition for Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellowships is fierce. Each year, approximately 80 undergraduate applications are submitted. Members of the Pelotonia Fellowship Committee critically review each application.

BFA students Mimi Lamantia and Serena Chang have received prestigious Pelotonia Undergraduate Research Fellowships for their cancer research projects. These $12,000 awards fund their research and continued coursework next year.

Mimi Lamantia's "It Takes Two to Tango: A Study on the Effect of Dance-Based Interventions for Cancer Survivors" is a year-long study to determine the feasibility of using two dance-based interventions, Argentine Tango and OSU Dance alum Lise Worthen-Chaudari's game-like visual art feedback program (called NeuroArts) to improve balance and quality of life among cancer survivors with balance deficits. Mimi has earned the BFA in Dance and will attend medical school after completing her pre-med studies and research next year.

Serena Chang's "Dance: A Holistic Expression of the Cancer Experience" is a choreographic dance project intended to raise awareness of cancer by encompassing the physical and emotional experiences of cancer survivors. Serena will complete a BFA in Dance and a BS in Molecular Genetics next year. She intends on going to medical school after she pursues professional dance.

Congratulations to these exemplary artist-scientists who are already making a critical difference.